Class 5 - Finance
Instructor: George Simmons, Vice President, Derby Management
George Simmons has over 20 years of executive experience in Finance and in Operations at both public and private companies growing 30% to 70% per year.
At Derby Management, George specializes in working with early stage and middle market manufacturing, distribution and service companies providing a variety of services
including: creating financial plans; managing fundraising campaigns;
interim financial management; interim operations and general management
George is an expert in creating and executing on product line profitability scenarios and lectures frequently on turnaround strategies. He has been an officer of numerous venture backed enterprises that were successfully acquired by larger firms.
George’s broad background in finance, operations, organization, and Mergers and Acquisitions planning has allowed him to assist entrepreneurs and senior executives solve the most difficult business problems in a wide variety of industries.
Prior to joining Derby Management¸ George’s experience included positions as CFO of Zoom Telephonics when they grew profitably from $12M to $65M in three years. George also served as the CFO of Digital Products during its growth years as it became a market leader in network printing. George has additionally managed a number of successful turnarounds as President of several private manufacturing companies in New England.
Speaker: Joff Smith and Shana Orczyk
Joff Smith is Young, Ambitious and Well Rounded; District 1 Worcester City Councilor;
Became the youngest person ever elected to the Worcester City Council on November 9,
2005; Played Division 1 Baseball at Univ. of Hartford; Had several Major League Baseball tryouts; New York Life - qualified for prestigious Executive Council his first full year in business, and every year thereafter; NYL Centurion Award qualifier in 2004, along with achieving the status of a Life All-Star and Annuity Champion, based on
production; Selected as one of the Top 25 agents in his class in the Northeast Zone for NYL in 2004;
Recipient of 40 under Forty award by Worcester Business Journal in 2006; Selected as one of the Top 25 To Watch by Pulse Magazine in 2005;
Had an acting role in a movie and TV commercial
Shana Orczyk has been involved in the financial services for over 6 years. She began her career as a financial advisor with Morgan Stanley. Shana worked with Morgan Stanley for 2 ˝ years and during that time was ranked in the top 5 out of 155 advisors in her New Hire class managing over $30 million in assets.
Currently Shana currently works as an investment analyst at Fidelity Investments. In this role she is heavily involved in Capital Market and Economic Research. She works directly with the Fidelity Portfolio Managers and represents their outlook and stock views to institutional clients.
Shana is a 2000 graduate of the University of Massachusetts-Amherst where she received her Bachelors Degree in Sport Management. She will receive her MBA from the McCallum Graduate School of Business at Bentley College this May. She is licensed NASD Series 7, 66, and 31.
Shana is currently the Director of Finance for the Whizkids Foundation. In her spare time she enjoys downhill ski racing, modeling, and horseback riding.
Students had a lot of finance questions for
George during the break.
Finance projection in 20 years? Let me
draw a picture to explain...